Monday night wasn’t as kind to the Ranger prospects playing
for the Greenville Road Warriors or for Ryan Graves and his Val-d’Or Foreurs as
both lost their playoff games. For the Road Warriors it was game 1 of their
series against the Cincinnati Cyclones and it was played in Cincinnati.

The Road Warriors would actually jump out to an early 1-0
lead when Kyle Jean (2012 UFA) would score at 2:30 of the first period assisted
by Josh Nicholls (2012 UFA) and Andrew Yogan (2010 4th). It was Jean’s
5th goal of the playoffs and 7th point of the playoffs
while it was Nicholls 7th assist and 10th point and Yogan’s
7th assist and 12th point.

That was the highlight for the Road Warriors as it was all
Cyclones after that as the Ranger prospects struggled in this game leading to a
4-1 win. Jason Missiaen took the loss in goal stopping 28 out of 32 shots in
the loss.

Game 2 will be in Cincinnati Tuesday evening.

In London Ontario, Ryan Graves (2013 4th) and his
Val-d’Or Foreurs ran into the OHL champions the Guelph Storm only to be beaten
6-3 at the Memorial Cup. The Foreurs looked and played like they were out of
gas as the Storm was all over them from the start.

It was Guelph up 3-0 before the game was even 6 minutes old,
4-0 before the Foreurs got on the board and it was just a bad night for the
QMJHL champs who fall to 1-1 in the Memorial Cup.

Graves was scoreless with a -2 on no shots and a minor for
checking from behind. His Foreurs won’t get any rest as they are right back in
action Tuesday night against the Edmonton Oil Kings of the WHL.

The way the Memorial Cup is formatted the Guelph Storm who
are 2-0 have already advanced to the final with wins over the Oil Kings and the
Foreurs. The Oil Kings and Foreurs are both 1-1 and the loser of tomorrow’s
game will be rooting for the Storm on Wednesday when they play the host London
Knights who are 0-2.

Should London defeat Guelph then they will play the loser of
tomorrow’s game on Thursday. The winner of what is called the “tiebreaker” game
will play tomorrow’s winner on Friday in the semifinal with the winner of that
game heading to the final on Sunday.

If you are a bit confused don’t feel too bad as it takes a
while to get used what really is a fun tournament.